~ The Urge to Merge ~
by Red Hope
Disclaimer & Notices
Copyright: I don't own any of the normal Heroes characters, but there are a couple here that I do own. The plot line is also all mine.
Violence: It certainly has violence in it.
Sexual Content: This is femslash but nothing too sexually explicit.

Summary: Niki Sanders has returned home to Las Vegas after her horrifying experience in New York City. She tries to carry on a normal life again and move past her husband's death. But any solace is short lived when Niki meets the famous Doctor Toni Kevin, who is notable for her psychological cures. Niki develops an interest in Toni, but her alter ego, Jessica, isn't too keen on the psychologist. Suddenly, everything becomes skewed when Micah is kidnapped, and it seems like the good doctor has all the answers.

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Started: October 28, 2007
Ended: October 31, 2007
Series: One Shot


Chapter 3

Toni Kevin swept back her damp hair after just getting showered and dressed for the day. She'd decided to cancel her morning appointment after such a rough night. She bit back a yawn and strolled down the hallway then went into her kitchen. She started a pot of coffee to get her charged.

She picked up the small remote from her counter and switched on the small flat screen television that hung under her cabinet. She went to the local news station and idly listened. Toni then decided to make breakfast while her coffee brewed. She then sensed somebody else in the kitchen, and she glanced back to see the tall, beautiful blond in her kitchen. She focused back on her cooking.

"Good morning, Niki. You want any coffee?"

Niki was slightly surprised that the psychologist automatically knew it was her and not Jessica. "Uh yeah. That'd be nice, thank you."

Toni pulled out two mugs from her cabinet and set it by her brew machine. "Take a seat. It'll be ready in a minute."

Niki took a seat at the table, and lately she'd noticed that Toni had a modern taste about her furniture. She rather liked the style. "How'd you sleep?"

Toni softly smiled, but she kept her back to Niki. She worked at scrambling the eggs in the pan, which were almost done. "Like a rock. You?"

"Really well." Niki worked her fingers through her messy hair. She really didn't care though. "Micah is still asleep. I think he was fairly worn out."

"I can imagine." Toni grabbed a black plate from her cabinet then carefully transferred the eggs onto the plate. She then carried the plate over to Niki and set it in front of her.

"Toni-"

"Ketchup?" the psychologist joked. She caught Niki's smile, but she went back to her counter to get a fork. She pulled one out along with a napkin and gave them to Niki. She then checked on the coffee machine, which was finished brewing. She poured two cups and handed one to Niki. "Milk or sugar?"

"Just black," Niki replied. She now tried the eggs, which were quite tasty just for plain eggs.

Toni now pulled out some bread and popped two pieces into her toaster. She pulled out her butter from her fridge along with three eggs. She set the eggs near the used pan, but she waited for the toast.

Niki enjoyed the warm breakfast that she rarely ever had in her life. She sipped on the coffee and was surprised by the soft french vanilla flavor to it.

Toni placed the butter in front of Niki along with a knife. She then scooped up the ready toast and set it on a bread plate that she'd grabbed. She positioned the toast in front of Niki.

Niki sighed and shook her head. "Thank you, Toni."

"No problem." Toni picked up her coffee then sat down at the table.

"You're going to eat too?"

Toni smiled over the brim of her mug. "I'll make something in a minute." She sipped on her coffee and just let it wake her up. "How is it?"

"Wonderful," Niki insisted.

Toni nodded then glanced over at the small screen. She caught the weather and saw it would be warmer, drier day. The nights were certainly chilly anymore but the days were still reaching the seventies.

"How did you know it was me?" Niki brought up.

Toni turned back to Niki, and she set her mug down. "Besides the obvious factors, I could... sense it was you."

"You can tell the difference between Jessica and I?"

Toni simply nodded then sipped her coffee. She then softly informed, "I can also sense whether or not she's dormant. Like now, I can tell she is."

Niki shook her head. She picked up a piece of toast and buttered it. "None of this makes sense," she muttered.

Toni grinned and wrapped her hands completely around the warm mug. "I know it probably doesn't to you."

"And it does to you?" Niki argued.

"I'm figuring it out," Toni replied.

"Care to share?"

The psychologist chuckled and released her mug. She got up and started to prepare her own breakfast. "I didn't completely became aware of my ability until I was in college. It was like my own education helped me become more aware of it." She was scrambling eggs while her bread toasted. "I learned it and figured out how it could not just help me but others."

Niki admired Toni's quest. She picked up the toast plate and set it on top of the larger plate. "What happened?"

"I eventually learned how to control it fairly well. I could help many of my patients work through their disorders." Toni then sighed and argued, "But I can't help all of them. It did eventually make me quite famed in the psychological field." She slid the readied eggs onto her plate then picked up the toast. "I also noticed over the years that my ability seemed to grow stronger or expand as I used it."

Niki tilted her head and offered, "Exercising it?"

"I think so." Toni sat down at the table with her hot food. She pushed the eggs around with her fork for a beat. "I guess it is a bit like exercising a muscle. The more you work out, the more your muscles will build up." She peered up at Niki, who seemed to fully agree.

"So what's this have to do with Jessica and I?"

Toni first ate some eggs, and her head bobbed. She finally answered, "Well, I think you and Jessica just encouraged my ability to grow." She sipped on her coffee and slightly grinned at Niki's perplexed look.

"How?"

Toni set her mug down then picked up a piece of toast. "I can detect your powers now." She buttered her toast and informed, "Like right now, I know you don't have any super strength. You can only access it through Jessica."

"You can sense that?" Niki questioned.

"I can." Toni finished her toast then mentioned, "I also know your son is a technopathy." She caught Niki's surprise, but she continued to speak. "I've never been able to detect anybody else's powers until now. I don't know whether it's because I've never been in contact with another evolved person or not. Or if you and Jessica just triggered it somehow."

Niki slotted her eyes at hearing the 'evolved' term. "You know."

Toni Kevin hesitated from eating the last of her egg. "If you mean Chandra Suresh's theory then yes." She finished off her eggs then explained, "After I realized what I have, I began to research it so I came across Professor Suresh's book. That's when it all made senses to me... about who I am... who we are."

Niki leaned back in chair in shock. She couldn't believe that this all was happening to her. Exactly what were the odds that a psychologist with the power to understand life's mysterious would enter her life? She'd come to realize that there were no coincidences anymore.

"I've heard about Suresh's death," Toni mentioned. "I tried to follow his trail so I could meet him. Obviously it didn't happen, and I've been too caught up to follow any other leads." She hesitated but commented, "There seems to be a lot going on."

Niki lifted her eyes from her mug's almost empty contents. She held Toni's gaze. "Yes... yes there is." She swallowed and nervously mentioned, "There is a company that's working to control us."

Toni tensed at the news. She asked, "Who are they?"

"It's complicated." Niki shook her head then locked eyes with Toni. "They say they're here to protect us, but its more like protect us from ourselves."

Toni laced her hands together and set her palms flat against the table. "I'm sure there are some people with powers that could prove to be dangerous." She then shook her head and argued, "Whether or not somebody has a power, all people have the potential to be dangerous. Nobody or company should have the right to play judge."

"Or executioner," Niki murmured.

"They've killed people?" Toni had a dark look on her face.

"It hasn't been exactly proven," Niki answered, "but that's what the suggestion has been." She sighed and threaded her fingers through her hair. "Micah and I have been keeping a low profile. We've already had our dealings with them and paid a price."

"I'm sorry, Niki."

Niki shook her head and softly argued, "It was my damn fault." She thought about D.L.'s death, but she was glad that Sylar was out of the picture now. "Lately I've been considering going to the Company." She met Toni's concerned gaze. "To see if they can stop Jessica. I'm fearful she'll end up harming Micah."

Toni now pushed her plate aside. She felt the pain that coursed through the younger woman. "Listen to me, Niki what you have is a gift."

"A gift?" Niki hotly argued. "You were right last night. I have multiple personality disorder."

"Actually, I was wrong," the psychologist declared. She watched Niki's changing expression, but she composed her next words carefully. "I just made a general assumption. But I figured out it isn't a disorder at all. You don't have the classic symptoms of MPD." She tilted her head. "You don't have depression, panic attacks, phobias, eating disorders... you're not suicidal, and you don't have anything else."

Niki realized that Toni was indeed right. She wasn't exactly happy, but she was content in her life. She had panicky moments, but she never had any serious attack. She'd considered the idea of suicide like most people, who've had fleeting thoughts too. But she'd never leave Micah.

"Then what is this?"

Toni sighed and tried to form the right words that would easily explain how she saw it. "You have," she emphasized, "powers, and Jessica is one of them." Now she started to move her hands while she spoke. "Have you ever noticed how most people wish they could be two people? That they don't like certain aspects about themselves? We've all entertained the idea of being another person at some point in our lives." She then slightly chuckled and offered, "Some of us even become an alter ego when we're drunk. It comes out in us because we let go of our control."

Niki nodded because it was making sense. She then theorized, "So then my ability is to be two people in one?"

"Exactly." Toni lowered her hands. "And through Jessica you're able to access the super strength." She tilted her head. "But don't misunderstand Jessica as being just a power. She's indeed her own entity... her own person."

Niki sighed and bowed her head slightly. "How can you be sure?"

Toni leaned forward some and locked eyes with Niki. "Let me put it this way, if it was MPD then I would have detected when we first spoke. I never suspected a thing, and now I can feel that it is a power."

Niki nodded a few times.

Toni reached over and took Niki's hand into hers. "If you go to this Company, and they eliminate your powers then you'll lose your identity. Trust me." She searched Niki soft blue eyes that were different from Jessica's. "And Jessica does care for Micah. I can tell after last night." She shrugged and argued, "She just handles things opposite of how you do it."

"And I'm afraid that Micah will end up hurt or worse... whether that's by accident or not." Niki studied her hand covered by the smaller one.

"Things do happen," Toni agreed. She squeezed Niki's hand then relinquished her hold. "But I don't think Jessica will do any of it on purpose. She'll do everything she can to protect Micah and you. That actually seems to be what invokes her."

Niki had to agree. It was quite true that Jessica only surfaced at those moments.

"To be honest," Toni continued, "I think if you two work together then it could potentially increase your powers." She tried to think of some analogy. "It's similar to magnets. If two magnets are pushing apart then nothing works right, but if they're attracted to each other then they're much stronger together." She detected a shift in Niki that Niki wasn't even quite aware of, but she simply added, "Besides two heads are better than one." She got up and collected the plates.

"I think the doc has an interesting view."

Niki instantly tensed at hearing Jessica's voice in her head, but she clearly relaxed after a second. She felt like somebody had just sneaked up behind her.

"It's not a view," Toni argued, "it's a scientific hypothesis." She went over to the sink with the dishes. She heard a deep laugh that certainly didn't come from Niki.

"Then how do Jessica and I work it out?"

"It'll take some time." Toni kept her back to the tall blond. She just simply washed off the dishes with water then opened her dishwasher. "But I suspect what it really involves is some trust and truth." She put the dishes into the racks then closed up the washer. She didn't bother to turn it on yet. She turned around and came back to Niki. "You need to learn to trust Jessica. And I think Jessica may have some secrets that you're not aware of Niki."

"Like what?"

Toni rested her hands on the back of her empty chair and shrugged. "I'm a psychologist... not a fortune teller."

Jessica's laugh could be heard echoing. "Touche," Jessica answered.

Toni slightly grinned, but she picked up her empty mug and decided on another cup of coffee. "You want anymore, Niki?"

"I'm fine." Niki studied Toni's profile then asked, "Can you help Jessica and I?"

The psychologist came back to the table and wrapped her hands around the mug. "I can if you're both are willing otherwise it'll be a waste of time for all of us."

"Through your power?" Jessica tested.

"I'm not talking about that," Toni replied. "I'm talking about using good old fashion therapy." She waved her hand at Niki and mentioned, "The fact that all three of us can communicate will make it far easier."

"How's that?" Niki questioned.

Toni grinned. "It means I don't have to do some hocus pocus to bring Jessica to the surface or visa-versa. Whatever is allowing me to hear the recessive personality too is going to make this easier." She sipped on her black coffee again.

"What would your power do to us?" Niki tried.

"Possibly nothing." Toni shrugged and set her mug down. "You don't have a disorder so my power probably wouldn't do anything." She tilted her head. "I'm leery to even try."

Niki shook her head. "Maybe just start with the therapy first."

"Only if Jessica is willing to do it," Toni reminded. "If you two can't even agree on that then there's no hope to get anywhere else."

Jessica Sanders had been carefully watching and listening through her recessive position. She'd studied Dr. Kevin's mannerism and watched her eyes. Jessica actually felt somewhat confident that the psychologist wouldn't try anything funny. She also knew that Niki wanted this, and Jessica had to admit she was curious to understand what was between her and Niki.

"Let's try it," Jessica decided finally.

Toni nodded in agreement. "We mind as well get started today. I'll contact my assistant and tell her I won't be in my office today." She then turned her head to the right at hearing quiet footfall. She smiled.

Niki also smiled and greeted, "Good morning, cutie."

Micah instantly figured out that it was Niki that inhabited her mother's body. He went to her and gave a quick hug. "Good morning." He smiled at Toni Kevin.

"You hungry?" Toni inquired.

Micah nodded.

Toni climbed to her feet and took her mug with her. She started making another breakfast.

Niki softened at the gesture from the psychologist, yet she focused on Micah. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." He then tilted his head. "Don't I have school today?"

"You do," Niki agreed, "but I thought I'd let you sleep in for a bit. You're going to be a little late."

"Cool." Micah grinned.

Niki chuckled, but she lectured, "Don't get use to it."

Micah soon had breakfast, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Toni cleaned up the remainder of her dishes along with the coffee machine. Niki then told Micah to get ready because she was going to take him home, get his bookbag, and then they could get him to school. Toni walked Micah and his mother to the front door, and Niki told Micah to go ahead and get into the car. Once Micah was in the car, Niki turned back to the psychologist in the doorway.

"Just come back here." Toni leaned against the door frame. "I'll be here."

"I might be a bit," Niki admitted. "I want to check on my friend."

"I understand." The psychologist softly smiled. "There's no rush. We have all day."

Niki mirrored back the soft smile. She stood taller than Toni despite she was a step down. Then that similar urge from last night after the dinner returned to her.

"Do it, Niki," Jessica murmured. There was a hint of tease in her voice.

Toni blinked and straightened up from the door frame. She quickly processed what Jessica may have been referring to especially now that Niki clearly blushed.

Niki cleared her throat and took a step down. "I'll see you later, Toni." She silently cursed Jessica for speaking out because it was obvious that Toni heard it. She turned on the next step and rushed to her car and waiting son.

Toni was intrigued and started to grin because she now had a clue. She folded her arms and leaned back against the frame. She remained there until Niki and Micah Sanders were out of the driveway. She then reentered her house and went to find her cell phone. She needed to chat with her assistant about canceling all her appointments and not just her morning sessions.



Continued.




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